OSMOSIS

Osmosis Experiments
● The most common osmosis practical involves cutting cylinders of potato and
placing them into distilled water and sucrose solutions of increasing
concentration
● The potato cylinders are weighed before placing into the solutions
● They are left in the solutions for 20 – 30 minutes and then removed, dried to
remove excess liquid and reweighed
● The potato cylinder in the distilled water will have increased its mass the most
as there is a greater concentration gradient in this tube between the distilled
water (high water potential) and the potato cells (lower water potential)
● This means more water molecules will move into the potato cells by osmosis,
pushing the cell membrane against the cell wall and so increasing the turgor
pressure in the cells which makes them turgid – the potato cylinders will feel
hard
Osmosis Experiments
● The potato cylinder in the strongest sucrose concentration will have decreased
its mass the most as there is a greater concentration gradient in this tube
between the potato cells (higher water potential) and the sucrose solution (lower
water potential)
● This means more water molecules will move out of the potato cells by
osmosis, making them flaccid and decreasing the mass of the cylinder – the
potato cylinders will feel floppy
● If looked at underneath the microscope, cells from this potato cylinder might
be plasmolysed, meaning the cell membrane has pulled away from the cell wall
● If there is a potato cylinder that has not increased or decreased in mass, it
means there was no overall net movement of water into or out of the potato
cells
● This is because the solution that cylinder was in was the same concentration as
the solution found in the cytoplasm of the potato cells, so there was no
concentration gradient
PLANT CELL
Importance of Osmosis in Tissues
When water moves into a plant cell, the vacuole gets
bigger, pushing the cell membrane against the cell wall
Water entering the cell by osmosis makes the cell rigid and firm
This is important for plants as the effect of all the cells in a plant
being firm is to provide support and strength for the plant –
making the plant stand upright with its leaves held out to catch
sunlight
The pressure created by the cell wall stops too much water
entering and prevents the cell from bursting
If plants do not receive enough water the cells cannot remain rigid
and firm (turgid) and the plant wilts
 Osmosis in Plant Tissues
● Plant cells that are turgid are full of water and contain a high turgor
pressure (the pressure of the cytoplasm pushing against the cell wall)
● This pressure prevents any more water entering the cell by osmosis, even if it
is in a solution that has a higher water potential than inside the cytoplasm of
the cells
● This prevents the plant cells from taking in too much water and bursting
● Plant roots are surrounded by soil water and the cytoplasm of root cells has
a lower water potential than the soil water
● This means water will move across the cell membrane of root hair cells into the
root by osmosis
● The water moves across the root from cell to cell by osmosis until it reaches
the xylem
Once they enter the xylem they are transported away from the root by the
transpiration stream, helping to maintain a concentration gradient between the
root cells and the xylem vessels
 Osmosis in Animal Tissues
● Animal cells also lose and gain water as a result of osmosis
● As animal cells do not have a supporting cell wall, the results on the
cell are more severe
● If an animal cell is placed into a strong sugar solution (with a lower
water potential than the cell), it will lose water by osmosis and
become crenated (shrivelled up)
● If an animal cell is placed into distilled water (with a higher water
potential than the cell), it will gain water by osmosis and, as it has no
cell wall to create turgor pressure, will continue to do so until the cell
membrane is stretched too far and it bursts
●
Effect of osmosis on animal cells